U.S. Pat. No. 3,815,808 for "Packaging Structure" which issued June 11, 1974 discloses and claims a bottle carrying tray which is reusable and a disposable cardboard sleeve which telescopes downwardly over the open top of the tray. This tray and sleeve arrangement does not lend itself to machine handling and requires substantial labor expense.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,854,652 for "Blank for Container Cover" issued Dec. 17, 1974 discloses a blank from which a sleeve may be formed and which preferably utilizes two layers of cardboard, the sleeve being disposable.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 167,094 filed Mar. 11, 1988 and owned by the assignee of this invention discloses a reusable case in conjunction with a disposable overwrap for covering the top, bottom, sides and ends of the case.